Diagnosis and Clinical Significance of Basilar Migraine(Special Issue in Hornor of the Retirement of Professor Toshiko Takemiya at the Department of Neurology, Tokyo Women\u27s Medical University)

Migraine may be classified by the presence or absence of neurological symptoms. Though basilar migraine is a subtype of migraine with aura, it has been dealt with as a specific type of migraine because its symptoms are peculiar. In basilar migraine, episodes in which brainstem symptoms, cerebellar symptoms and posterior lobe symptoms such as vertigo, tinnitus, ataxic gait, consciousness disturbance and hemianopsia precede the onset of headache. The ensuing headache is commonly occipital. Basilar migraine is found most often in adolescent girls and attributed to dysfunction or ischemia in the vertebrobasilar region. Various forms of consciousness disturbance such as coma, stupor, confusion, syncope and agitation occur because of dysfuntion or ischemia of brainstem reticular formation. The author has experienced many cases of basilar migraine and investigated several clinical aspects of this disorders. In this paper, the author has stressed the following; 1) Though basilar migraine is regarded as rare in Japan, it is not rare, but rather, has remained undetected. 2) Basilar migraine is one of the causes of acute impairment of consciousness. 3) Basilar migraine must be differentiated from cerebrovascular disease of the vertebrobasilar artery, because both diseases show similar symptoms. 4) Basilar migraine is one of the important causes of transient global amnesia.神経内科学教室竹宮敏子教授退任記念特別